Forbidden Past

DISCLAIMER: Not mine. Whedon and Rowling rock my world.

SUMMARY: Hemery high wasn't the first school that Buffy Summers was expelled from.

NOTES: Just go with it. It all kind of makes sense if you don't think about it too hard.

PAIRING: None decided yet.

SETTINGS: BTVS2/HP5. Post 'What's My Line' and 'Ted'. Just to remind you, WML is the episode that Kendra the Vampire Slayer is introduced. Also, just pretend that we've never seen Hank Summers in the episode 'Nightmares'. He has conveniently been deleted from that episode. I'll explain later.

ANOTHER NOTE: Angel? Who's Angel again? I don't recall Buffy being in love with Angel? (Heh, neither does Joss Whedon it seems. This is long before Innocence, and any romance between Buffy and Angel has been conveniently ignored.) Oh…also...Grawp? Who's that again? Oh, yeah, the convenient excuse for the Centaurs to leave Umbridge alone? Yes, I do vaguely recall. Heh…must have slipped my mind. Yeah, Grawp's not anywhere in this fic at all. As for Angel, he's mentioned, but it is later explained why Buffy will never ever be dating him.

RATING: R for violence and dark themes later on. I'll put warning on dark chapters.

ONWARDS:

PROLOGUE

As evenings went, it had been fairly ordinary for the three students and one librarian who were seated around a large wooden table in the middle of Sunnydale High Library. Buffy Summers was curled up in her favourite chair, a book in her lap, though she wouldn't have been able to even tell you the topic of the book, let alone what the page she had been staring at was supposed to be about. The Vampire Slayer was completely unable to concentrate that evening, which was why her Watcher, Rupert Giles, had suggested that she take the evening off. Although, Giles' idea of an evening off had meant that Buffy was now cloistered in the library, researching some random demon that was supposed to be rising in the next few years. If she even lived that long.

It was Christmas next week. It would be her birthday in a month. Seventeen. It was a special age to turn, but she wouldn't be able to truly savour it. Other kids her age would be learning how to – She stopped that line of thought immediately. Moping would do no good to her. She couldn't go back. She sighed despondently, causing her best friend, Willow Rosenberg, to look up at her in concern.

Willow had noticed a marked difference in the Slayer's behaviour, and she was becoming more and more worried by the blonde girl's sullen behaviour. Whenever she asked Buffy about it, the Slayer always changed the topic, bringing up something that would make Willow completely forget that she had been questioning the Slayer on her problems.

Beside Willow, Xander Harris looked up, also slightly worried about the Slayer. He knew that there was something she hadn't told them, but he couldn't work out what it was.

"You okay Buffy?" Xander asked.

The Slayer's head snapped to attention, Buffy shaking her head as though coming out of a fog.

"Huh?"

"I'll take that as a 'no' then," Xander replied, trying to make light of the situation. "What's the up, Buff? You've been kinda out of it lately."

"I'm fine," she replied. "Just tired. Plus Snyder's been giving me death stares since the whole Ted thing. I think he was upset that I wasn't arrested or something. He's been looking for an excuse to kick me outta here."

"At least you'd be consistent," Willow offered. "First Hemery, then Sunnydale."

"Of course, the only other school nearby is that scary Catholic one. I can just imagine you in those little grey pleated skirts, and those nifty little ties," Xander teased, giving her a mock-leer.

Willow reached across and lightly whacked Xander across the back of his head. He gave her a scandalised look, and then silently pleaded for forgiveness with puppy-dog eyes. Willow just shook her head and rolled her eyes before turning back to a smirking Buffy, who seemed somewhat amused by Xander's comment for a reason known only to the Slayer.

"Don't worry too much Buffy," Willow consoled the Slayer. "Snyder can't kick you out without reason, and you've been on your best behaviour lately."

"I suppose."

"So, what have you got planned for Christmas, Buffy?" Xander asked, quickly changing the topic, seeing how worried Buffy really was about the thought of being expelled.

"The holidays," Willow corrected her best friend, scowling at him for being so inconsiderate as well as politically incorrect. "Not everybody worships Santa!"

"Nothing really," Buffy replied, with a slight grin at Willow's outburst. "Family stuff mostly."

That wasn't a lie. But unfortunately, she wouldn't be doing the family things that she really wanted to be doing. She was desperately missing her family lately, although her 'mom' had been doing a wonderful job of distracting her from being too depressed over what had happened in the past. The problem was, she would have given just about anything to visit her –

"Buff!" Xander yelled for the third time.

Buffy looked up. "What?"

"Are you sure you're okay?" Willow asked worriedly. "You've kinda been spacing out."

"I'm fine," Buffy replied, feeling slightly guilty for not telling her best friends the truth about herself, but knowing that it was for the best. "Just a little busy up top."

"That's a first," Xander ribbed, earning him another smack across the back of the head.

Buffy managed to conjure up a small smile, but it fell completely flat.

"Y'know, I'm really not doing much good here," Buffy said, standing up and picking up her backpack. "I'm just gonna head home, maybe do a quick patrol along the way."

"Are you certain that's a good idea?" Giles asked as he exited his office for the first time in the last half hour. "You've been distracted lately, and I seriously doubt that you should be patrolling with your mind elsewhere."

"I'll be fine," Buffy replied, though she was grateful for her Watcher's concern. It was nice to know that Giles was genuinely concerned for her wellbeing, and not just because she was the Slayer. "I'll be focussed. I promise."

She walked out of the library, leaving her two best friends and her Watcher mystified, and more than a little bit worried about her behaviour. There was a mystery there that only Buffy could solve for them but the Slayer was shut up tighter than a clam. All they could do was wait for her to open up to them, and go from there.

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Buffy managed to duck into a roll rather than falling flat on her face. She jumped to her feet with her old gymnastics skills and managed to knock the vampire to his back with a well-placed roundhouse kick. The vampire regained its footing and lunged at the Slayer, but Buffy successfully side-stepped, and punched the vampire swiftly. She saw her opening, and quickly plunged the stake into the vampire's chest, humming in satisfaction as the vampire turned to dust. The night air was still and silent, but she could feel something in the air. Something powerful. Something evil.

"Very impressive hunt," a soft voice said, as someone in a long black cloak stepped out of the shadows.

Buffy tensed ready for a fight. Her senses were going haywire with the amount of power emanating from the figure in front of her. Whoever, or whatever this was, they were strong. They held an old and powerful magic that felt…darker than anything she'd ever sensed before. He was stronger than she was, though she would never want to admit to that.

"Such power," the man continued.

"That was no hunt," Buffy replied, relying on her tried-and-true quips and witticisms to try and keep calm and collected. "That was just a day on the job. Care to step up for some overtime?"

"We are not going to fight," the figure replied. Buffy could hear the smirk in his voice, and as the figure stepped forward into the light coming from the streetlamps, she swallowed nervously and forced herself not to step back in fear.

Whatever this creature was, it looked almost snake like. Its eyes were scarlet red, and its nose was merely a slit. Its skin was pale and alabaster, and the cloaks hood covered the creature's hair, if it actually had any.

"Do you know what a Slayer is?" Buffy asked, wondering why the creature had yet to attack her.

"Do you?" the creature challenged.

Buffy couldn't help but pause as the question was turned around on her. She'd been intrigued by her own powers many times, and had, once-upon-a-time, been curious enough to research where the power had come from. She'd found very little in the way of answers, and had eventually given up.

"Who are you?" Buffy asked, more than a little intrigued.

"I apologise, I assumed you knew. I am Lord Voldemort."

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I just can't help myself anymore. grins I am still working on my other fics, promise, but this has sprung up out of nowhere. Enjoy!

Toodles.

DKG.